


An Old Fashioned Love Song

by MaevesChild



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, First Dates, Fluff, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 05:51:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13070463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaevesChild/pseuds/MaevesChild
Summary: Both Nora and Edward remember what it was like before the war.  Funny, but it turns out they are okay with how things turned out anyway.





	1. First Date

Nora tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and stared at the door.  

“Miss Nora, should I ring the bell for you?” Cogsworth’s voice nearly shot her right out of her skin.

“ _Jesus_ Cogsworth, don’t sneak up on me like that.”

There was a whir of gears. “I’m so sorry, ma’am,” Cogsworth said. He floated backwards a few paces. For a globe of metal without a face, he was surprisingly easy to read. She didn’t mean to hurt his feelings. She was just jumpy -- way out-of-proportion jumpy -- considering the circumstances.

Nora was a woman who hunted Super Mutants for fun _._

She pushed the door buzzer. The ancient speaker crackled.

“ _Yeah?”_ Just one word, but it made her palms sweat.

“It’s me.”

_“Hey, glad you’re here. Come right in.”_

Her stomach made a nauseating flip as the lock on the door clicked. She wiped her hands off on the skirt of her faded pink dress so she could actually get a grip on the knob. The dress felt too tight and too revealing; she’d always like dresses but preferred them baggy. Before the war, her broad shoulders and tendency to gain weight in her middle and in her tits made fashion uncomfortable. It didn’t feel all that much better now. She tried not to think about it too much.

“Wait for me out here, and if you would, watch my power armor,” she said to Cogsworth. “I’ll feel better knowing you’re watching for trouble. I mean, that Sentrybot is big, but I trust you.”

Cogsworth practically beamed at that. One less thing to worry about. Good to know it would still be here when it was time to go home but she still felt mildly ridiculous that she’d come all the way from Goodneighbor to Cabot House wearing a dress inside her power armor.

It was crazy but Piper insisted.

“ _You can’t go on a date in road leathers and beat up flannel, Nora,” she said._

_“It’s not a date.”_

_Piper gave her a look. “It is a date and you know it.”_

_“I don’t know anything, Piper,” Nora admitted. “I haven’t been on a date in 200 years.”_

Nora stepped through the door and latched it behind her.

The house was eerily quiet. Apparently the Cabots were all off having a last hurrah before the serum ran out. She couldn’t blame them. If anyone know how fleeting time was, it was Nora. Her date on the other hand -- _wow, it was really a date, wasn’t it? --_ he had all the time in the world, assuming he didn’t get himself shot again.

“Having second thoughts?”

Nora jumped again, head jerking up. Her pulse had to be over 100.

There he was, _her date_.

Edward Deegan was leaning against the wall, the corner of his mouth quirked up just slightly and his entire broad body relaxed and languid. He was wearing a suit. _A goddamn suit;_ charcoal grey and probably as old as she was, but equally well preserved. He had on a black silk tie; it was expertly tied but loosened and the top button of his shirt was undone. He looked amazing. He wasn’t worried about second thoughts or anything else.

“Of course not,” Nora managed to say, doing her best to sound casual. She took a few steps, the hard soles of her heels clicking against the hardwood floor. She put her hand on his forearm and tried not to focus too hard on how ridiculously big it was under her palm. She reached up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his warm cheek.

Edward flipped his arm over underneath her hand, big fingers cupping her elbow and keeping her close.

“I recall the last kiss was a bit more... _intense_.” She felt the rumble of his voice inside her ribcage. Nora’s pulse accelerated 150 bpm, but for a different reason than the nerves outside the door.

 _That kiss._ It was a crazy, impulsive thing to do. She was still amazed she did it. There he was, on the floor at Parson’s, bleeding like a stuck pig and she just had to.

_“Not dead yet, but I don’t think I can get up.” The fact that he was still alive considering all the blood pooled under him was a damned miracle. Jack Cabot, completely wrapped up in his own bullshit, was undisturbed. Nora wanted to break his glasses right into his stupid face._

_Once Jack was convinced Edward couldn’t help, he scurried off, beckoning Nora to follow him. And she was going to, but she looked down at Edward there on the floor and she knew it was possible he wouldn’t still be breathing by the time they got back._

_She thought of Nate, of how she hadn’t given him one last kiss before those fucking cryopods closed and she never got another chance. She didn’t know if Edward felt the same spark she did, but at that moment, she was terrified that she’d have to add even more regrets to her growing pile._

_Nora crouched down, putting her hand over Edward’s, his whorled skin sticky with his own blood._

_“Don’t die while we’re gone,” she said._

_He’d chuckled, pain strained but sincere. “I’ll do my best.”_

_And then, she kissed him. It was soft at first, gauging how he’d react, but when he grabbed the back of her head with his free hand she kissed him the way she’d wanted to since practically the first moment she met him back in Beacon Hill. She reveled in the unusual texture of his skin, of the soft, warm press of his tongue. He tasted like cigarettes and bourbon and blood._

She’s thought about that kiss a lot since then.  

“We’ll get there,” she said and then half shrugged. “Probably.”

Edward chuckled but then leaned back, cocking his head slightly. His expression was warm and sincere. “No pressure,” he said. “Scotch, dinner…” He shrugged. “The rest?” He smiled.

He was too damn good to be true. Nora wasn’t sure she deserved someone as good as he was, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to enjoy it while it lasted.

“Why dontcha come sit down, relax, have a drink.” He smiled again, the ridges of his skin flexing as he did. He moved easy, as if all those bullet wounds had never happened. Hancock did say ghouls were different, aged different and all that. Didn’t meant they were impervious to bullets though. Then again, she was pretty sure no one had really spent a lot of time figuring out how ghouls worked. Most people seemed to prefer to pretend they didn’t exist. Nora felt differently. She liked them, pre-war ghouls especially. No one else knew what it was like before, no one else really understood how she felt. But they did.

At first, she had to admit they looked strange but now it surprised her how normal they looked to her. To Nora, Edward was a man. Everything else was details.

Her hand was still on his arm, so he tucked it into the crook of his elbow and led her to the table. He pulled out the chair for her, the legs just barely hissing across the rug under the table. She sat down as he pushed her chair in.

_God, did men even do this in the Wasteland now? Did people even date at all?_

Edward went to the sidebar and grabbed a decanter of scotch, carefully pouring two fingers into a pair of matching crystal glasses. He handed her a glass from across the table. He looked at his own glass for 2 heartbeats before raising it again.

“A toast?” he asked.

Nora nodded. She swirled the scotch in the glass carefully. “What should we toast to?”

“To 2077,” he said, unexpectedly. “If those assholes hadn’t dropped the bombs, I wouldn’t have met you.” He smiled again. It was kind of sad, maybe a little nervous. “I’ll take you and the Wasteland over Paradise without you.”

He clinked his glass against hers before she could even react and the chime of the crystal glasses rang like a bell.


	2. Really, really

Dinner was Brahmin steak, greens and somehow Edward made Instamash taste good.

"Didn’t know you were such a damn good cook,” Nora said. She wasn’t sure she’d eaten this well since before the war.

Edward shrugged a shoulder. He had his elbow on the table, his chin resting in the palm of his hand. “I’ve had lots of time to practice.” He extended his index finger, kinda pointing at himself. “I am 254 years old.”

“Well, I’m…” Nora paused. She waved her hand around dismissively. “200-something. And I still burn water.”

“200- _something?”_ He grinned. “Come on, I think we’re both too old to pretend we’re nineteen.”

Nora tried to fake offense, but she was bad at it and smirked instead. “I thought I looked pretty good for my age, you know, even before.”

Edward leaned back and made a show of looking at her. “Honey, you look good regardless, but I’d really like to know how badly I’m trying to rob the cradle.”

“You aren’t,” Nora said. She felt her eyebrow twitch. “You were, what, forty-four? Before the war, I mean.”

He nodded.

“Thirty-eight,” she said. “I guess that makes me 248.”

“Huh,” he said. “I wouldn’t have guessed. Not so terrible of me then.”

“I started it anyway.” Nora crossed her legs under the table and tucked her hand between her knees to keep herself from fidgeting.

“That you did.” Edward sat up and leaned back in his chair. “I have to tell you, I really wasn’t expecting it but I’m not complaining.”

“Really?” Nora asked. She set her fork down on the edge of the plate. “Didn’t you even think about it?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Not dead yet.”

Nora chuckled. “I know I’m not, you know, really the kinda girl that men just notice, but I thought we had a good workin-”

“Wait, what do you mean _not the kind of girl men notice_?” Edward cut her off. He leaned forward and put both hands on the table. “I mean, I liked you once I got to know you, but I sure as hell noticed you right away.”

Nora immediately felt uncomfortable. Old baggage, this.

She met Nate right after Officer Candidate school, when she first started practicing military law. She passed the test easily, but had to get special dispensation for her weight. They figured her test scores figuratively outweighed her weight problems. And yet she’d been in the best shape of her life then. She’d never gotten so much male attention in her life.

It didn’t take long before her body started to get soft again. By then, Nate loved her. He loved her still, even when she gained thirty pounds after the wedding and another sixty when she had Shaun. Nate was a good man and he loved her and wanted her, but it always felt like _despite_ and definitely never _because_ of her body.

“I..ah, well,” she managed to stutter out. “I mean, I don’t belong on the pages of a fashion magazine.”

Edward snorted. “There haven’t been any of those in centuries.” He frowned. He seemed to ponder for a moment and then he stood up suddenly and made his way around the table. Nora didn’t even have time to get worried before he crouched down next to her chair and grabbed hold of her knees, swiveling her to face him. Nora uncrossed her legs, her eyes on his hands, one on each knee.

“Nora,” he said. He paused, waiting for her to look up at him. “I remember how it was before the war and I guess some of that hasn’t changed.” He shook his head. “I mean, women look good in all different kinds and frankly it isn’t any of my business anyway, but I got preferences, just like anyone else. Do you know how depressing it is to like soft curvy women in a Wasteland where almost everyone looks like they’ve missed their last meal or ten?”

Nora just looked at him. She couldn’t process what he was saying.

“Nora,” he repeated. He squeezed his hands and watched her face carefully. Slowly, he slid his hands up until they were halfway up her thighs. He closed his eyes and took in a slow, shuddering breath. His tongue flicked out between his thin lips. “Oh God,” he muttered. “I have wanted to get my hands on you since the minute I laid eyes on you.” He exhaled, bit his lower lip. “I had a description of you. Young, red hair, blue vault suit, power armor. Pre-war, ass kicking raider killer. It wasn’t much to go on, but you sounded like the kind of person I could use. And when you sauntered into Beacon Hill?” He took another breath. “Sweet mercy.”

“Really?” Nora asked.

“Really, really,” he grinned.

Nora put her hands on his face. His eyes were different, so different than the eyes of the man she thought she was gonna want when she was young and fantasizing. But his eyes, palest blue, the whites tinted red with burst blood vessels...they were honest. He was utterly sincere.

_Really, really._

She kissed him again and this time, she went all in right away.

It was awkward like this, leaning down over him and he seemed to feel the same. He pulled her up to her feet and that worked better, even though he was so much taller than she was. The heels helped. Nora’s hands were on his arms, feeling the tension in his muscles even through the wool of his suit. His hands ran down to the small of her back, then splayed out over her hips. He dug his fingers into the ample flesh, pulling her tight against him. She couldn’t miss the long ridge of his erection pressing against her soft belly.

She tilted her head back to catch her breath and he dragged his lips along her jaw, down the side of her neck. Nora moved her hands, slipping them between them, sliding them into his jacket. She felt the cool leather of his belt and followed it until she felt the metal buckle in the front. Edward stopped dead. She didn’t even mean to touch him, not yet, but the head of his cock strained against the zipper, up to the belt and her fingertips skipped over him. She heard him swallow.

Nora ran her finger along the side of his cock, feeling how he was curved a bit; it seemed like there wasn’t enough room between his balls and his belt for the full length of his erection. He was as big there as everywhere else.

_Holy shit._

“Oh my god,” he muttered. “Do you….”

“Yes,” she managed. “I have never wanted anything more in my life.”

Edward scooped her up in his arms with ease, and she couldn’t help but squeak in surprise. He immediately headed for the stairs in the opposite direction of his room. She had to ask.

“Gonna sully the boss’s room?”

Edward grinned. “Nah, it’s my room now. The Cabots, they aren’t coming back.” He kept walking as he spoke, walking up the stairs carrying her as easy as if he was walking down the street. “They had maybe what, six months of serum left, or so. They all decided to try to go see if they could find where Lorenzo found that crazy helmet of his. Maybe get to live longer.”

“Wait, wasn’t that, in the Middle East or something? How the hell are they gonna get there?”

“Don’t know,” he said. He paused at the top of the stairs to kiss her again. “Don’t care.”

“I’m surprised they didn’t take you with them.” She was surprised about a lot of things regarding the Cabots and Edward.

He chuckled and started walking down the hallway. He kicked open the door to the bedroom that used to belong to his boss. As gently as if she was made of glass, he set her down on the bed and leaned down over her. He kissed her softly; on her eyelids, the corner of her mouth, along the arch of her cheekbone.

“They tried to,” he whispered, his breath ghosting over her ear. “But for the first time since Jack Cabot hired me, I told him no.”

“Why?”

“I had a date.”

Nora laughed, even as it made her chest seem a little too small for its contents.

“Are you... _really?_ ”

Edward smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

“Really, really.”


End file.
